Suffers from being too preachy, too long, and far too unexciting (until the last 20 minutes).
The first Narnia was interesting and exciting. This was just plain boring - even though it looked stunning and beautiful!
But worst of all was having to feel like I was sitting through a Sunday school lesson. Honestly, it was that "preachy" to the tune of:
"Have faith in what you have no evidence for - even when all else points to it being false." and "Even if everything is against you and all is bleak, if you believe you will come out on top."
The Good: * Amazing visuals, including costumes, sets, locations, and effects. * The newcomer lead who plays the young Prince does a fine job.
The Bad: * WAY too long (2½ hours) for such a simple story. * Slow pacing and uninteresting (too many?) characters. * The sermons. * The child actors (Lucy excepted). * Annoying animal characters. None as endearing as the beavers from the first film. * Crappy bad-guy. The White Witch was sorely missed. Spaniard king was just plain annoying. Too much of the movie was based around his character. * Too many characters to follow and too much happening.
The book kept the story simple and told it in a brisker pace. The movie tried to add too much more to "flesh it out" a bit, but this hurt it rather than helped. Too boring and far too long.
Sorry for the long review. I hope you find it balanced and honest. I could have spent more time on how beautiful the film was and how excellent the effects were (for the most part) but that is kind of a given. Even with a higher "production value" this film just isn't up to par with its predecessor.
Unless you're a huge fan of the books, loved the first film and don't mind a slow-paced preachy film, skip this one and watch Iron Man, Indy or even Speed Racer instead.
The first Narnia was interesting and exciting. This was just plain boring - even though it looked stunning and beautiful!
But worst of all was having to feel like I was sitting through a Sunday school lesson. Honestly, it was that "preachy" to the tune of:
"Have faith in what you have no evidence for - even when all else points to it being false." and "Even if everything is against you and all is bleak, if you believe you will come out on top."
The Good: * Amazing visuals, including costumes, sets, locations, and effects. * The newcomer lead who plays the young Prince does a fine job.
The Bad: * WAY too long (2½ hours) for such a simple story. * Slow pacing and uninteresting (too many?) characters. * The sermons. * The child actors (Lucy excepted). * Annoying animal characters. None as endearing as the beavers from the first film. * Crappy bad-guy. The White Witch was sorely missed. Spaniard king was just plain annoying. Too much of the movie was based around his character. * Too many characters to follow and too much happening.
The book kept the story simple and told it in a brisker pace. The movie tried to add too much more to "flesh it out" a bit, but this hurt it rather than helped. Too boring and far too long.
Sorry for the long review. I hope you find it balanced and honest. I could have spent more time on how beautiful the film was and how excellent the effects were (for the most part) but that is kind of a given. Even with a higher "production value" this film just isn't up to par with its predecessor.
Unless you're a huge fan of the books, loved the first film and don't mind a slow-paced preachy film, skip this one and watch Iron Man, Indy or even Speed Racer instead.